Title: The Little Things
Fandom: NCIS
Characters: Ziva/?
Spoilers: none
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Donald P. Bellisario, Bellisarius Productions, CBS, Paramount, etc. No copyright infringement intended.
A/N: I am not Jewish, so please forgive me any small mistakes I may make regarding the customs, etc. I’m trying my best to be accurate. It was just too fun an idea to pass up!
December 24, 2008
Ziva’s mind was already on her mystery gift giver as she rode the elevator up to the squadroom. Her plan with the marbles hadn’t been as fruitful as she’d hoped. Sure, plenty of people noticed and asked her about them, but all the inquiries seemed genuine. The team’s reactions were all pretty typical. Abby looked at them excitedly and declared them ‘cool!’ Ducky explained that the larger marble was a shooter and recounted a story from his youth about his own lucky shooter. Tony mocked her, asking if a marble was a more dangerous weapon than a paperclip and moved to fling one at McGee but Ziva stole it back before he could. McGee asked her if she was planning to collect marbles and mentioned something about Antiques Roadshow. Gibbs of course didn’t actually say anything, he simply looked at the marbles then up at Ziva with a raised brow. Since no one had responded suspiciously, Ziva wasn’t any closer to finding answers. And after returning from Abby’s lab to find Tony clumsily juggling three of the marbles, she realized they were probably not from him. If they were, surely he would not treat them so cavalierly. Not to mention that his gifts to women always tended to have sexual undertones.
Still, she was eager to see what new little trinket would be waiting for her that day. Her eyes widened as she lifted a beautiful hand-carved wooden horse from the drawer. It was posed as though in mid gallop and the rustic chisel marks seemed to enhance the feel of motion. The dark wood was oiled to a smooth shine that seemed to invite Ziva’s touch. This was no ordinary horse figurine that you could just pick up at any gift shop; it was obviously made by a true craftsman.
Ziva continued to caress the wood thoughtfully as she remembered her multiple teatime conversations with Ducky about horses and riding. ‘Could be… he has always been very generous with me.’ She reminded herself that the whole team knew of her love for horses and it could well have been anyone. ‘Gibbs! He builds boats all the time, surely he also knows how to carve.’ Of course Ziva knew that her gift giver did not necessarily carve the horse. Besides, she wasn’t having much luck with her guesses thus far. Each time she thought she might be on to someone, she ended up thinking of something else that eased her suspicions. Her mind was racing as she considered, not for the first time, the possibility that perhaps her coworkers were all in on it together. She supposed only time would tell.